Perceived instructor argumentativeness and verbal aggressiveness and student outcomes

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between instructor argumentativeness and verbal aggressiveness, and student affective learning and satisfaction. Participants were 169 undergraduate students enrolled in a variety of communication courses at a small Midwestern university. Results indicate that perceived instructor argumentativeness is positively correlated with student affect toward the course, student affect toward the instructor, and student satisfaction whereas perceived instructor verbal aggressiveness is negatively correlated with student affect toward the course, student affect toward the instructor, and student satisfaction. Future researchers may examine the reasons behind instructor argumentative and verbally aggressive behaviors as well as the composition of the various messages used to exemplify these behaviors.     

Testing Components of Confirmation: How Acceptance and Challenge from Mothers,Fathers, and Siblings are Related to Adolescent Self-Concept

The current study assessed how confirmation from family members (mothers, fathers, siblings) was related to adolescents' (ages 13–22) self-concepts. To extend confirmation theory, two components of confirmation were distinguished—acceptance and challenge—to understand their unique and combined contribution to predicting adolescent sense of self. 206 adolescents completed a general questionnaire, and a subset (n=60) completed daily diaries regarding conversations with family members. Analyses of the general perceptions of family interactions suggested the roles of acceptance and challenge in predicting adolescent sense of self varied by family member, whereas analyses of adolescents' reports of daily conversations suggested acceptance and challenge were strong predictors of sense of self regardless of family member. In addition, although the combination of acceptance and challenge was hypothesized to predict the strongest levels of sense of self, analyses suggested the effects of acceptance and challenge were additive. Adolescent participation in conversations, as hypothesized, also mediated the relationship between confirmation and sense of self. Overall, analyses provide partial support for the theoretical extensions, and directions for further theory development and future research are discussed.     

Effects of reintegration difficulties,perceived message acceptance and perceived autonomy support on U.S. military Veterans’ evaluations of messages encouraging them to seek behavioral health care

This online experiment integrates confirmation, politeness, and self-determination theories to examine how Veterans evaluate family members’ messages encouraging them to seek behavioral health care. Veterans (N?=?226) evaluated messages manipulated to express high or low levels of acceptance and autonomy support, completed outcome measures (persuasiveness, relational impact, identity management, emotions), and reported on their own reintegration difficulties. Positive associations were found between perceived message acceptance and three outcomes, and perceived autonomy support and two outcomes. Reintegration difficulties were associated with more negative message perceptions. Perceived acceptance and autonomy support also mediated a number of associations between manipulated message features and outcomes, as well as reintegration difficulties and outcomes. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Graduate theses: An index of graduate work in speech,XXXIII

Six themes of physicians' relational communication were hypothesized to predict patients' satisfaction and compliance, to relate to strategies used by physicians to gain compliance, and to relate to frequency of physician‐patient contact. Telephone interviews with 234 adults who had seen a primary care physician within the previous six months confirmed that perceived relational communication was strongly related to affective, cognitive, and behavioral satisfaction. More expressions of receptivity, immediacy, composure, similarity, and formality and less dominance by the physician were associated with greater patient satisfaction. Only perceived similarity related to patient‐reported compliance. Several relational message themes were associated with physicians’ use of 17 verbal compliance‐gaining strategies. More prior contact also was associated with more perceived use of immediacy and receptivity messages by the physician and with more satisfaction. Finally, satisfaction was modestly correlated with compliance.     

“Say something instead of nothing”: Adolescents’ perceptions of memorable conversations about sex-related topics with their parents

This study examined adolescents’ (n?=?389) perceptions of parent–adolescent communication about sex, including what their parents say about sex, what types of conversations adolescents report as memorable, the degree to which messages are perceived as effective, and how parental messages predict adolescents’ sexual attitudes and behaviors. Six conversation types emerged: underdeveloped, safety, comprehensive talk, warning/threat, wait, and no talk. When adolescents were asked to report how those could have been improved, five types emerged from the analysis of their responses: no change, be more specific/provide guidance, talk to me, appropriateness, and collaborate. Comprehensive talk and safety were perceived as significantly more effective than all other types of conversations. Safety conversations predicted the lowest levels of permissive sexual attitudes and risk-taking.     

Health-care Provider Compassionate Love and Women's Infertility Stressors

The purpose of the present study was to examine relationships between doctor compassionate love and treatment, relational, and psychological stressors, as well as to identify effective health-care provider compassionate messages. Participants were 233 women who had been treated for infertility in the past 12 months. Doctor compassionate love was directly associated with positive affect during treatment, perceived treatment stress, and self-esteem. Additionally, perceived treatment stress mediated the relationship between doctor compassionate love and social and marital stress, as well as self-esteem and depression. Participants identified five categories of memorable compassionate messages sent by health-care providers, including offering hope, privileging the patient ahead of the self, practicing patient-centeredness, empathizing, and nonverbally communicating. Messages that constituted privileging the patient ahead of the self and nonverbally communicating were significantly more compassionate than those of offering hope. The study provides implications for the clinical treatment of infertile women and a practical tool for doing so compassionately.     

Using the Emotion-in-Relationships Model to Predict Features of Interpersonal Influence Attempts

This paper considers how the Emotion-in-Relationships Model (ERM), a theory designed to predict people's experience of emotion, might explain persuasive messages. A study was conducted in which 248 individuals simulated leaving a date request voicemail message. Consistent with ERM, people's perceptions of interference from partners were positively associated with appraisals of self threat and relationship threat and negatively associated with the fluency of messages. People's perceptions of facilitation from partners were positively associated with identity management strategies, positive politeness, and the affection of messages. These results persisted after covarying relationship satisfaction. Taken together, the findings shed light on the strengths and weaknesses of ERM as a theory of interpersonal communication.     

An application of attribution principles to nonverbal behavior in romantic dyads

This article suggests ways in which attribution theories can explain the interpretation processes involved in understanding nonverbal behavior. An experiment examined attribution choices for nonverbal messages between romantic partners. Couples (N = 63) were videotaped while playing a game of “Trivial Pursuit.” During the interaction, one member of the dyad manipulated his or her nonverbal behaviors to appear positive at one point and negative at a second time period. If noticed, the partner made attributions for these behaviors. It was found that level of relational satisfaction correlated with perceptions of cause for nonverbal messages. In particular, negative behaviors were seen to be more intentional, stable, and controllable, whereas positive cues were perceived to be more external, unstable, and specific as relational satisfaction decreased. Further, satisfied couples were more likely to offer neutral motives for the negative behaviors of their partners. Overall, negative behaviors more commonly elicited overt attributions than did positive or baseline cues, but the number of attributions provided to account for the behaviors increased along with satisfaction level.     

Theory Guiding Communication Campaign Praxis: A Qualitative Elicitation Study Comparing Exercise Beliefs of Overweight and Healthy Weight College Students

College students are at great risk of obesity and overweight, and campaigns encouraging exercise may mitigate associated health risks. Although some factors influential in college student exercise behavior have been reported, important in communication targeting, few have studied differences between overweight and normal weight students. Body mass index influences exercise behavior; thus, cognitive factors may be different in these subpopulations, necessitating different messaging approaches. This study aims to address this gap through theory-based qualitative elicitation work. Results indicate that overweight and normal weight college students differ in their perceived facilitators to regular exercise. Implications for exercise messages are discussed.     

公共文化服务的公众获得感测度与提升研究——以辽宁为例

公共文化服务建设从重视供给效率转向更重视公众诉求。文章首次将期望确认理论引入该领域,通过在辽宁的问卷调查,分析公众对公共文化服务的期望与感知绩效,以测度公众的获得感程度。在此基础上,利用结构方程模型探究公众对公共文化服务的期望到感知、到确认、再到获得感的过程路径。研究发现:公众期望与感知绩效之间存在差异,改善基础服务与服务保障类因素有助于提升公众获得感。政府应构建期望-供给型服务模式,推进服务保障,激发公众的参与积极性。     

Doctoral dissertations in speech: Work in progress, 1952

Prior research on comforting communication from the constructivist perspective has employed a hierarchical system of message analysis to classify different comforting strategies; within this system, messages are scored for the extent to which they explicitly acknowledge, elaborate, and legitimize the feelings of distressed others. The present paper reports two studies assessing the extent to which naive actors' perceptions of comforting strategy sensitivity, effectiveness, and quality correspond with the formal analysis of comforting strategy sophistication embedded in the constructivist hierarchical coding scheme. In the first study, 73 female college students interacted with a female confederate who feigned distress over having recently been dropped by her long‐term boyfriend. These interactions were videotaped and content analyzed; in addition, both the confederate and an experimental observer rated participants' behaviors for sensitivity. Results indicated that participants employing a greater proportion of theoretically sophisticated comforting strategies were perceived as behaving more sensitively toward the confederate. In the second study, 148 college students were presented with lists of preformulated comforting strategies derived from the constructivist hierarchy and were asked to rate these strategies for “sensitivity” and “effectiveness” and to rank order them in terms of overall quality. Results indicated that respondents rated and rank ordered the strategies in a manner very consistent with the constructivist hierarchical ordering of comforting strategy types: The constructivist ordering of the strategies explained over 95% of the variance in respondents' ratings and rank orderings.     

学术APP用户采纳意愿影响因素实证研究

[目的/意义]移动应用程序（APP）的大量供给及用户注意力稀缺性,导致了其激烈的生存竞争。对于亟待发展的学术APP而言,研究其用户采纳意愿的主要影响因素并加以利用具有重要意义。[方法/过程]以技术接受模型、期望确认模型等经典用户行为理论模型为基础,结合学术APP的特点,构建学术APP用户采纳意愿影响因素模型;运用问卷调查的方法收集数据并对数据进行统计分析和实证研究,从而验证模型的适用性。[结果/结论]感知有用性、感知易用性、满意度、感知权威及社会影响对学术APP用户采纳意愿有显著正向影响。学术APP开发者应当增加资源的可获得性,提升用户对有用性与易用性的感知;强化APP属性,提升用户满意度;严格控制资源的专业性,维护用户对权威性的感知;扩大学术APP的社会影响。     

Understanding the Interactive Effects of Emotional Appeal and Claim Strength in Health Messages

This paper examines the interactive effects of the perceived strength of the verbal claims and the intensity and direction of the emotional appeal of public service announcements (PSAs) on audience perceptions of message effectiveness. The results show that PSAs containing strong verbal claims are rated as more effective than those with weak claims. Arousing messages with weak claims are perceived as least effective. Increasing claim strength increased memory for negative but not for positive messages. It is suggested that the combination of intense emotional appeal and weak claims may be partially responsible for the boomerang effects in antidrug campaigns.     

The impact of communication apprehension and fear of talking with a physician on perceived medical outcomes

This study examined the relationships among trait CA, state CA (fear of interacting with a physician), and patient perceived satisfaction with quality of medical care and physician. The results indicated that trait CA and fear of the physician were positively related. However, trait CA was not significantly related to patient perceived satisfaction with quality of medical care or physician. State CA, in contrast, was significantly negatively related to both patient perceived satisfaction with medical care and satisfaction with physician. It is concluded that future research should investigate the impact of physicians’ engaging in positive communication behaviors on patients’ apprehension and medical outcomes.     

Perceived organizational effectiveness,job satisfaction,culture, and communication: Challenging the traditional view

This study challenges the traditional view that organizational culture, relationships, and communication activities precede or produce the outcomes of job satisfaction and perceived organizational effectiveness. Specifically, the study (a) empirically examines job satisfaction and perceived effectiveness for their potential as important explanatory processes for the outcomes of organizational culture, relationships, and information receiving and sending, and (b) empirically compares the traditional model with the competing conceptualization. Results of a canonical correlation analysis utilizing 2245 individuals in 21 organizations in various parts of the world indicate that 54.8% of the variance in perceptions of culture, relationships, information receiving, and information sending can be explained by job satisfaction and perceived organizational effectiveness. Results of a nested model comparison of the two models using latent variable path analysis demonstrated that the competing conceptualization is a significantly better fit to the data than the traditional view.     

Culturally tailored narrative evidence about family health history: a moderated mediation analysis

This study tests a theoretical model named the Extended Elaboration Likelihood Model for Narrative Evidence Processing (EELM-NEP) to investigate associations between message processing, message outcomes, and behavioral intentions (BI) in the context of family health history communication. Furthermore, to investigate the role of cultural tailoring within these associations, this study explores how the type of culturally tailored narrative evidence and participants’ cultural identity moderate the relationships between message processing, message outcomes, and BI. A percentile bootstrap method and pairwise comparison tests in structural equation modeling (SEM) were employed. According to the results, identification significantly predicted engagement, and engagement had significant and positive effects on perceived message quality (PMQ), comprehension, perceived message effectiveness (PME), and BI. PME and resistance to counter-arguing significantly and positively affected BI. Importantly, the EELM-ENP model as well as pairwise comparison tests revealed that the messages were more effective when the participants read culturally distant messages. Findings suggest that cultural novelty might be more effective than cultural closeness in narrative persuasion.     

Predictors and outcomes of initial coming out messages: testing the theory of coming out message production

Sexual orientation disclosure can result in both positive and negative consequences. Utilizing the theory of coming out message production (COMP; Li & Samp, 2018), this study explored when and how disclosure messages predict more positive reports of psychological well-being. Lesbian, gay, and bisexual participants (N = 251) reported their experiences of first ever coming out to others in face-to-face settings. Results showed that when people’s disclosure goals become more salient, they tend to perceive greater desire to change their current outness levels toward the disclosure receivers, which in turn predict higher degrees of disclosure. When people are highly motivated, their perceived relational power over receivers also positively predicts degrees of disclosure. Regardless of receivers’ reactions, greater salience of disclosure goals and higher degrees of disclosure predict fewer depressive symptoms and higher self-esteem. This study supports COMP and provides practical implications for when, to whom, and how individuals first come out.     

Toward a contingency approach to marital interaction: An empirical integration of three approaches

Dindia and Fitzpatrick (1985) identified three main approaches to the study of marital communication: the satisfaction approach, the pragmatic approach, and the typological approach. This study reports an empirical integration of the key variables of each approach: Fitzpatrick's couple types, relational control, and marital satisfaction. It is hypothesized that (a) control behaviors and patterns have nonlinear associations with marital satisfaction and (b) different behaviors and patterns are satisfying to different types of couples. Marital couples discussed eight potential problem areas and their coded behaviors were submitted to interaction analysis using Morley's (1984) procedure. The results suggest that: (a) → behaviors had a positive association with marital satisfaction, and ↓↑ and →↓ interacts had significant convex quadratic associations with satisfaction, (b) ↓ control behaviors and ↑↓, ↓→, and ↑→ patterns interacted with couple type in predicting marital satisfaction. These results suggest a contingency model of marital satisfaction.     

Superior–Subordinate Communication in the Workplace: Verbal Aggression,Nonverbal Immediacy,and Their Joint Effects on Perceived Superior Credibility

This study examined the joint effects of a superior’s verbally aggressive behaviors and nonverbal immediacy behaviors on a subordinate’s perceptions of a superior’s credibility. Participants (n = 415) from intact classes were randomly assigned into one of the four experiment conditions simulated by four video segments: use of nonverbal immediacy and verbal aggression, nonuse of nonverbal immediacy and use of verbal aggression, use of nonverbal immediacy and nonuse of verbal aggression, and nonuse of nonverbal immediacy and verbal aggression. The findings indicate that superiors who do not use verbally aggressive messages and who are nonverbally immediate were perceived with a higher level of competence, trustworthiness, and caring than superiors who use verbally aggressive messages and who are not nonverbally immediate. In addition, superiors who use verbally aggressive messages and who are nonverbally immediate were perceived with the lowest level of perceived competence as compared to superiors in the other three conditions.